HOLM DEFEATED
Local fighter loses UFC 219 decision
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Albuquerque’s Holly Holm, worn down by Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino’s power and relentless pressure, lost Saturday night in her bid to become the first woman to win UFC titles in two weight classes.
After five exciting and often brutal rounds, the official judges scored the fight 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 for the featherweight champion from Brazil.
Holm, in becoming the first fighter to go five full rounds with Cyborg, dropped to 11-4 as an MMA fighter. Cyborg is 19-1.
Holm was unavailable after the fight, having gone to a hospital to have damage to her left eye examined. Mike Winkeljohn, Holm’s trainer, said he didn’t believe the damage was serious.
Of the fight, Winkeljohn said, “It just came to, we made a few mistakes. The judges always like people that go forward and (apply) pressure.”
Round one appeared to be Holm’s best. Seemingly the stronger fighter, if not the more powerful puncher, the Albuquerque southpaw had Cyborg’s back to the fence for a considerable portion of the five minutes. Holm also landed a couple of solid left hands. Cyborg landed two big rights early in the round but otherwise did no damage.
In the second round, Cyborg began finding the range with counter shots — something that had hurt Holm’s chances in early losses by decision to Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine DeRandamie.
Holm landed a couple of sharp right jabs and again was able to get Cyborg’s back to the fence in the clinch.
In rounds three and four, Cyborg became more and more dominant — Holm did little in those rounds, other than circle and land isolated shots.
Holm never landed a clean head kick with the force of those she used in defeat-
ing Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia. It was Cyborg, in fact, who landed the harder, cleaner kicks.
CONDIT: From an Albuquerque standpoint, it would be pleasant to report that Carlos Condit fought Saturday night as if he’d never been away from the Octagon.
That was not the case. Denver’s Neil Magny, firmly in control during the first two rounds, defeated Condit by unanimous decision in a featured bout on UFC 219 at T-Mobile Arena.
The official scorecards read 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.
Condit, who was returning from a 16-month hiatus, is 30-11 in a professional MMA career that began in 2002. Magny improved to 20-6 or 20-7, depending on the source.
Condit opted not to speak to the media after the fight. Magny called the victory one of his most satisfying, given Condit’s credentials as a former UFC interim welterweight champion who had fought the best in the division and defeated many of them.
Magny said he thought the fight was close and that Condit showed no rust from his long layoff.
“He went out there and fought a great fight,” Magny said. “He seemed like the normal Carlos Condit to me.”
Magny said he felt the takedown deficit was crucial to the outcome. He’d received some advice on how to fight Condit from friend and recently retired teammate Nate Marquardt, a former teammate of Condit’s at Albuquerque’s Jackson-Wink MMA.
During pre-fight interviews, Condit talked about a renewed energy he’d felt during his preparation. That simply wasn’t evident on Saturday.
Some 25 seconds into the first round, Magny caught a Condit leg kick and took the Albuquerquean to the ground. It was first of five takedowns Magny would score during the fight, compared to none for Condit.
Nor was Condit effective in standup until late in the final round, the only round Condit won on any of the official scorecards.
Even then, Magny never appeared in trouble.
Earlier in the night, Khabib Nurmagomedov remained undefeated and staked a claim for a lightweight title shot with a dominant unanimous decision over Edson Barboza. Also, former strawweight champion Carla Esparza earned a hard fought decision victory, handing sixth-ranked Cynthia Calvillo her first pro loss.